Online advertising associated with electronic mapping systems

ABSTRACT

Various methods, systems and apparatus for displaying online advertising content associated with a point-of-interest (“POI”) in a digital mapping system, are disclosed. One such method may include detecting a change in the zoom level of an electronic map displayed on a computing device (e.g. desktop/laptop, smart phone, etc. operation on Windows®, Linux®, Mac OS®, iOS®, Android®, etc.) determining if the new zoom-level is at a pre-determined zoom level (e.g. at maximum zoom), identifying a POI on the map, retrieving advertisement content associated with the POI (“POI advertisement content”) and displaying the POI advertisement content. A POI may be a specific point of interest; or, an entire geographic region of a map displayed at a high zoom level. The method may further include detecting a change in the zoom, or pan, of the digital map while POI advertisement content is displayed, and removing or repositioning the POI advertisement content in response.

RELATED U.S. APPLICATION DATA

This application is a continuation-in-part of, and claims priority to,U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/592,894 filed on Dec. 3, 2009 titled“Displaying Content Associated with Electronic Mapping Systems” and U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/012,353 filed on Feb. 1, 2008, titled“Method and System for Associating Content with Map Zoom Function”. Thedisclosure of the prior applications is considered part of and isincorporated by reference in the disclosure of this application.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to mapping on electronicdevices. More particularly, the present invention relates to associatingonline-advertising content pertaining to a point-of-interest, or to avisible portion of an electronic map, and displaying the content inresponse to a change in the electronic map's zoom level.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Popular mapping services include Google Maps®, Yahoo! Maps®, WindowsLive Search Maps®, MapQuest® and others. Mapping services are typicallyavailable to a user through a web browser, running on a computer or aportable electronic device, such a cellular/smart phone (e.g. AppleiPhone®, Android®-based smart phone, etc.) personal digital assistant,etc. Mapping services allow a user to view a map in various formats(e.g. 2D, 3D, aerial, road, street-view, etc.). Functionality providedincludes “zoom in” and “zoom out”, which allows the user to see asmaller region at a greater level of detail, and larger region in lessdetail, respectively. Zooming in and out is often accomplished with thehelp of a control (e.g. a graphic control) which the user can manipulatewith an input device such as a mouse, keyboard, stylus, by touch, etc.Zooming-in may be limited by settings defining minimum/maximum zoomlevels, and/or by the physical limitation of zoom data available. Forexample, urban areas are often available for zoom up to the maximum“street level” (i.e. one or more streets with individual buildings areclearly visible) whereas remote areas may be available for zooming at alower maximum level. Online advertising, also known as onlineadvertisement, internet marketing, online marketing or e-marketing, isthe marketing and promotion of products or services over the Internet.Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engineresults pages, banner ads, blogs, rich media ads, social networkadvertising, interstitial ads, online classified advertising,advertising networks, dynamic banner ads, cross-platform ads and e-mailmarketing, including e-mail spam. Many of these types of ads aredelivered by an ad server.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides various methods, systems and apparatusfor displaying advertisement content associated with a point-of-interest(“POI”) in a digital mapping system. In response to a “zoom in” commandreceived by a map-display application, displaying a selected area of themap at a magnification beyond a predetermined zoom level, advertisementcontent associated with a POI on the map (“POI advertisement content”)may be retrieved and displayed. In one embodiment, POI advertisementcontent may be retrieved from a data store containing various POIadvertisement content for multiple POIs. In another embodiment, POIadvertisement content may be derived from a website associated with thePOI, through an automated process. POI advertisement content may be inthe form of media (a photograph, audio, video, etc.). POI advertisementcontent may be associated with a region of a displayed-area of a map,the region collectively being considered a POI.

In one embodiment, POI advertisement content may be displayed overlayinga portion of the map allowing some parts of the map to remain visible.In another embodiment the POI advertisement content may replace the mapor overlay its entirety. In response to various commands (e.g. zoom out,pan, etc.) the POI advertisement content may be hidden from view,restoring the map to its visual state prior to the POI advertisementcontent having been displayed. POI advertisement content may includeimages, media, web content, KML (for Keyhole Markup Language) files,documents, etc.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and furtheradvantages thereof, references are now made to the following DetailedDescription, taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1A and 1B are generalized block diagrams illustrating thetransformation of a digital map into POI-related advertising content, inresponse to a zoom-in functions, according to two possible embodimentsof the present invention.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D are general block diagrams illustrating variousmap images and content, displayed in response to changes in zoom levels,according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are generalized block diagrams illustrating renderingmapping and POI advertisement content on a user's electronic device,according to two possible embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are generalized flow diagrams illustrating logic fordetermining and displaying POI advertisement content, according to otherpossible embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are generalized flow diagrams illustrating methodologiesfor retrieving POI advertisement content for display, according tovarious possible embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a generalized flow diagram illustrating demarcating andflagging locations on a map for which POI advertisement content exists,according to one possible embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are generalized block diagrams illustrating displayingPOI advertisement content on top of a map, obscuring only a portion ofthe map, according to one possible embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 8 is a generalized block diagrams illustrating automaticallyobtaining POI advertisement content, according to one possibleembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a generalized block diagrams illustrating displaying POIadvertisement content in response to a command in a context menu,according to one possible embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D are generalized block diagrams illustratingdisplaying varied POI advertisement content association with a locationon a map, according to other possible embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 11 is a generalized block diagram illustrating displaying POIadvertisement content associated with social networking websites,according to one possible embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 12A, 12B, 12C and 12D are a generalized flow diagrams illustratingvarious algorithms used by a map-display application for retrieving anddisplaying POI advertisement content, according to numerous possibleembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a generalized block diagrams illustrating retrieving POIadvertisement content from web sties associated with points of interest(“POI”) on a map, according to one possible embodiments

FIGS. 14A and 14B are generalized block diagrams illustrating retrievingand displaying POI advertisement content from a mapping server,according to one possible embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1A and 1B are generalized block diagrams illustrating thetransformation of a digital map into POI-related advertising content, inresponse to a zoom-in functions, according to two possible embodimentsof the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1A, Electronic device 100(e.g. a smart phone, PC etc.) may display a digital map 110. Digital map110 may be generated by a mapping service (e.g. Google Maps®, Yahoo!Maps®, Windows Live Search Maps®, etc.) and may be transmitted toelectronic device 100 electronically (e.g. via the internet, wirelessly,using cellular communication, etc.)

Map 110 may be generated and displayed by computer code (e.g. usingtechnologies such as AJAX, javascript, http requests, DHTML, XML, VML,Flash®, etc.) in a map-display application (e.g. a browser application.)Map 110 may be composed of graphical images, known as “map tiles”, thatmay be received by the client device 100 from the mapping service, andassembled and displayed as a map 110. Images (e.g. a location marker130, pictures, icons, Flash® media files, etc.) may be generated by themapping service as graphics (e.g. “PNG” or “GIF” files) and transmittedto the electronic device 100 to be displayed on map 110.

Map 110 may display points of interest. A point-of-interest (“POI”) maybe designated by a location marker 130. A POI may be generated inmultiple ways. A POI may be selected by the user (e.g. by touching thescreen, using a pointing device, etc.) A POI may correspond to aphysical address or landmark. In yet another possible embodiment, a POImay comprise an area of a map. For example, in a case where a map at thehighest zoom level displaying one or more houses, the houses—or avisible segment of a street where the houses are—may be collectivelyconsidered a POI. A POI may be designated by the mapping serviceproviding map 110. For example, the mapping service maygenerate/designate a POI in response to a user query (e.g. the user mayenter a search query such as “shopping mall” and the mapping service maymark one or more shopping malls on map 110 as POIs.)

In the presently-preferred embodiment, a POI may also be designatedimplicitly—for example, when a map 110 is displayed in the highest zoomlevel, a landmark most prominent (e.g. occupying largest area of themap) may automatically be designated a POI. In an alternate embodiment,a landmark closest to the center of the map 110 may be automaticallydesignated a POI. In yet another embodiment, a landmark closest to thecenter of the map 110—with which the mapping service has associatedinformation, may automatically be designated a POI.

Map 110 may be manipulated by the user of electronic device 100. Forexample, the user may use a control and/or pointing device (e.g. stylus,fingers touching the screen, mechanical/electronic controls, etc.) topan across or zoom into a map 110.

A map is commonly capable of being displayed in various zoom levels. Inresponse to a user's selecting a zoom level, the map-display applicationmay determine the new region to be displayed, request the correspondingmap tiles from the mapping service, and display the received map tilesover the previous map tiles, which were displayed at the previous zoomlevel.

Zooming is generally supported within limits. A zoom-level may bedesignated by a number—for example, in the range of “0”-“20”, where “20”may represent the highest-supported zoom level and “0” may be the lowestsupported zoom level. For example, zoom level “0” may show a view ofPlanet Earth, while zoom-level “10” may show a map view of the areaequivalent to an average State; zoom-level “15” may show a map of a cityand the highest zoom level, “20”, may show one or more streets and/or alarge building.

At present, integers denoting a zoom level may be arbitrary and changeover time. Zoom levels may be correlated to a physical scale. Forexample, a zoom level of 0 may correspond to a map scale of 1inch=20,000 miles. A zoom level of 10 might be 1 inch=200 miles, 15 cancorrespond to 1 inch=20 miles, 20 might be 1 inch=200 yards, etc.

In the most common implementations of mapping technology, at present, auser attempting to zoom-in past the highest zoom-level (i.e. the map isdisplayed at the highest zoom-level, example “20”, and the user attemptsto further zoom in), may be displayed one of two things: in some cases,the display may remain unchanged (with an occasional accompaniment of anaudible signal, e.g. a “beep” sound) to indicate to the user no furtherzooming is available. In another common implementation, new map tilesare displayed indicating to the user no map image is available in thecurrent zoom level. In accordance with applicant's previous inventionpublications Ser. No. 12/592,894 and Ser. No. 12/012,353 additionalcontent 120 may be displayed in response to reaching the highest zoomlevel.

In one presently-preferred embodiment, advertising content 140 (“POIadvertisement content”) associated with a POI on the map 110 (e.g. a POIdemarked by location marker 130), may be displayed in electronic device100 in response to a request to zoom-in while the current zoom-level isat a pre-determined maximum. The POI advertisement content 140 may befrom a service such as Google Ad Words® 142, wherein the content of thePOI advertisement content 140 may include advertising contextual to thePOI 130. (e.g. an advertisement such as “50% off on men's mountain bikesat REI” 146, matching search criteria set by Google®'s ad-engine, inthis example displaying the ad 140 associated with sport store REI 144as the latter is included in geographic proximity to the location marker130.)

In an alternate embodiment, POI advertisement content 140 may bedisplayed in response to a request to zoom to the highest zoom level(i.e. in this alternate embodiment, POI advertisement content may bedisplayed at a zoom level where map data may still be available.)

In yet another alternate embodiment, POI advertisement content 140 maybe displayed in response to a request to zoom to a pre-determined zoomlevel. Pre-determined zoom levels may be set by a user, may be defaultsettings, may be set dynamically based on POI-content providerpreferences, etc.

In yet another possible alternate embodiment, referring now to FIG. 1B,social-network advertising 150 (e.g. “Ads by Facebook®” 152) may bedisplayed in response to reaching a maximum zoom level for the map 110.In response to a user's zooming to a map's maximum zoom level, asocial-network advertisement engine may produce an advertisement relatedto a user of the electronic device 100, deriving data from the user'ssocial graph and/or any geographic content on the map 110. For example,the social-network advertisement 150 may read “Sydney, Brandon and 10more friends like Yoga at the mall” 154, wherein the “Yoga” referencemay be related to a Yoga studio 156 located in proximity to the locationmarket 130 (FIG. 1A).

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D are general block diagrams illustrating variousmap images and content, displayed in response to changes in zoom levels,according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 2A-2Dillustrate an electronic device 200 (e.g. a personal computer, smartphone, PDA, etc.)

Electronic device 200 may include a map-display application 202 (e.g. abrowser, an application capable of displaying a map generated by aremote mapping service, etc.) In the presently-preferred embodiment,map-display application 202 may support the display of various map typesand images, including graphical images extraneous to maps generated by amapping service.

Referring to FIG. 2A, a map 210 may be displayed in map-displayapplication 202. Map 210 may be displayed at various zoom levels. Forexample, zoom-level indicator 212 may indicate a zoom level of “20%” Inthis example, map 210 is displayed in a satellite image/hybrid mapformat, for illustrative purposes only—the present invention supportsany type of map format (e.g. a 2D map, a 3D map, an aerial map, a hybridmap, a road map, etc.)

Referring now to FIG. 2B, map-display application 202 displays a map ondevice 200. In this example, zoom-level indicator 232 may display “ZoomLevel 70%”. Accordingly, the reader will notice that map 230 isdisplayed at a higher zoom level than map 210 in FIG. 2A. (i.e. the word“ocean”, an entire airport perimeter and the word “airport” are visiblein map 210, whereas only a portion of the airport, appearing larger, isvisible in map 230.) The user may have used various controls to issue acommand to increase the zoom level (e.g. controls such as keyboard,touch screen, mouse, stylus, voice command, etc.)

Referring now to FIG. 2C, zoom-level indicator 252 may read “Zoom level100%”. Accordingly, map 250, displayed in map-display application 202 ondevice 200, may be displayed at the highest-possible zoom level (i.e. asmall portion of the airport image in map 210 is displayed over the samescreen area as map 210, allowing for a greater level of detail to show.)

In map-display application 202, illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2C, a zoom levelmay change in response to a user's input (e.g. via an input device suchas a mouse, stylus, touching a touch-screen, mechanical control,keyboard, etc.), in accordance with the common operation of mappingsystems in the prior art domain. Sequential user input, interpreted as acommands to increase the zoom level, may cause the zoom level toincrease in a sequence, as illustrated in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C (FIG. 2Aillustrates map 210 at zoom level 20%, FIG. 2B illustrates a map 230 atzoom level 70%, FIG. 2C illustrates a map at zoom level 100%.)

In all presently-existing prior art, a user's input command to increasethe zoom level of the map beyond the maximum-supported zoom level (i.e.map-zoom level is 100% prior to user's invoking a command to zoom-in),does not display additional mapping information or content associatedwith POIs on the map.

Referring now to FIG. 2D, in the presently-preferred embodiment,additional content may be displayed in response to the user's invoking azoom-in command past the highest-supported zoom level. Map-displayapplication 202, on electronic device 200, may display contentassociated with a POI on the map (“POI advertisement content”) 270.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, POI advertisement content 270 maybe content associated with a POI most prominent on the map which isdisplayed at the highest-zoom level (e.g. map 250 in FIG. 2C) Inalternate embodiments, as will be shown in later figures, various othermethods may be used to determine a POI whose associated POIadvertisement content may be displayed.

In this example, POI advertisement content 270 (e.g. an airline ad, asin “Fly Virgin, London from $799”), displayed in map-display application202, may be associated with the airport in maps 210, 230 and 250 inFIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C, respectively. While maps 210, 230 and 250 may besatellite images of an airport—with map 250, labeled “Zoom level 100%”252—displaying the highest-resolution map (e.g. image of the airportterminal), POI advertisement content 270, at a zoom level labeled “Zoomlevel—past Max” (for illustrative purposes) 272, may displayadvertisement from various ad engines/services such as GoogleAdWords®/AdSense®, Facebook® etc.

As will be discussed in later figures, POI advertisement content 270,which may be displayed when the user invokes a zoom-in command past thehighest-available zoom level, may be an image, a website, Flash®content, PDF® content, any form of active content, etc.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, in a case where the area ofmap-display application 202 is relatively small (e.g. on the screen of asmart phone or PDA) POI advertisement content 270 may display in theentire display area of map-display application 202 (i.e. entirelyobscuring the map 250 in FIG. 2C.) In alternate embodiments, as shown inother figures, POI advertisement content 270 may display overlaying map250 (i.e. displayed “on top” of map 250 obscuring a portion of map 250.)

FIGS. 3A and 3B are generalized block diagrams illustrating renderingmapping and POI advertisement content on a user's electronic device,according to two possible embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 3Aillustrates one possible embodiment, where a map-display application onthe client's electronic device may request and display mappinginformation; and, when deemed necessary, may request and display POIadvertisement content information based on ad-words and/or geo-location.FIG. 3B illustrates another possible embodiment, where a map-displayapplication on the client's electronic device may request and displaymapping information; and, when deemed necessary, may request and displaysocial-network-generated POI advertisement content.

Please note that, both in FIGS. 3A and 3B, map-display applications 304a and 304 b represent the same map-display application, in two differentstates: the map-display application is denoted as 304 a when displayinga map, and as 304 b when displaying POI advertisement content.

Referring to both FIGS. 3A and 3B, a user's electronic device 300 maycommunicate with a mapping server 310 over a network 302 (e.g. theworld-wide web.) A map-display application 304 a, running on user'selectronic device 300, may receive mapping data from mapping server 310and display the mapping data as a map 306. The mapping data maygenerally include mapping tiles—or images—which map-display application304 a may then display stitched together to form a map.

Map-display application 304 a may receive input from the user (e.g. pan,zoom, new locations/coordinate to display, etc.) In response to the userinput, map-display application 304 a may request mapping informationfrom mapping server 310 and display the received mapping information.

Please note that it is common practice for map-display applications touse caching to store various mapping data. Once mapping data is receivedfrom the mapping server for the first time, it may be stored in localcache. Subsequent request for the same data may receive the data fromlocal cache and not from the mapping server. Since caching is out ofscope for this discussion, we describe all data as transmitted from aserver, disregarding the fact that in an actual implementation, some ofthe data may be retrieved from a local cache.

Referring now to FIG. 3A, in one presently-preferred embodiment, amap-display application on the client device may receive data (i.e.mapping data and various other data) from various sources and displaythe received data. For example, data used for rendering a map may bereceived from a mapping server, whereas other data, such as POIadvertisement content, may be received from other offline and onlinesources. The map-display application may determine the sources fromwhich to receive various types of data.

A map-display application 304 a may obtain and display mapping data asmap 306, from mapping server 310. POI advertisement content 308 a may beobtained and displayed by the map-display application 304 b, fromsearch-words/location-based advertising data sources 320 (e.g. Google'sAdWords® or any other source of advertisement which serves advertisementin connection with any search words associated with the map-displayapplication 304 a and/or physical location of the device 300 and/orlocation shown in the map 306) In this example, map-display application304 a may display mapping data as a map 306, showing a shopping centertitled “Great Mall”. In response to input requesting zooming-in past thehighest-allowed zoom level, map-display application 304 b may retrievePOI advertisement content from the search-words/location-basedadvertising data sources 320, and display the POI advertisement content308 a (in this example “50% off on men's mountain bikes at the GreatMall.”)

Referring now to FIG. 3B, in another possible embodiment, a map-displayapplication may display advertisements derived from a social networkadvertisement engine/service, in conjunction with zooming-infunctionality. In this embodiment, user input (e.g. pan, zoom, inputtedlocation name, etc.) may be transmitted by the map-display application304 a to a mapping server 310. Mapping server 310 may retrieve POIadvertisement content, as needed, from a social-network advertisementservice 330 (e.g. Facebook® advertising engine/service) and transmitback to map-display application 304 b images containing POIadvertisement content 308 b.

A map-display application 304 a may obtain and display mapping data asmap 306, from mapping server 310, as discussed previously. Map-displayapplication 304 a may transmit user input to mapping server 310, inresponse to which mapping server 310 may construct and transmit back newdisplay images. Mapping server 310, upon receiving from map-displayapplication 304 a a user request to zoom-in past the highest-allowedzoom level, may (1) obtain POI advertisement content from thesocial-network advertisement service 330, and (2) construct new displayimages containing POI advertisement content and (3) transmit the newimages for display by the map-display application 304 b as POIadvertisement content 308 b.

In this example, mapping server 310 may transmit to map-displayapplication mapping data forming map 306, showing a shopping centertitled “Great Mall”. In response to input requesting zooming-in past thehighest-allowed zoom level, mapping server 310 may obtain POIadvertisement content from the social-network advertisement service 330and transmit content containing the POI advertisement content tomap-display application 304 b for display as POI advertisement content308 b (e.g “Sydney, Brandon and 10 more friends like Yoga at the GreatMall.”)

FIGS. 4A and 4B are generalized flow diagrams illustrating logic fordetermining and displaying POI advertisement content, according to otherpossible embodiments of the present invention. FIGS. 4A and 4Billustrate event-driven logic—i.e. various flows are invoked in responseto events received, and generated by, a map-display application. Eventsrelated to mapping technologies and map-display applications are furtherdiscussed in FIGS. 12A-12D.

Referring to FIG. 4A, the logic in flow diagram 400 may be invoked by azoom-in event (e.g. the map-display application receives user inputinvoking a zoom-in command.)

At step 402, it may be determined whether the highest-allowed zoom levelhas been reached prior to the zoom-in event. If it is determined thatthe highest-allowed zoom level has not been reached prior to the zoom-inevent, at step 403 other logic (not depicted in this flow diagram as itis out-of-scope for this discussion) may be invoked.

If it is determined at step 402 that the highest-allowed zoom level hasbeen reached prior to the zoom-in event, at step 404 the center of themap may be determined. A map is commonly displayed as tiled imagesrepresenting a range of longitude/latitude values. The center of the mapmay be determined mathematically by calculating the mean horizontaldisplay coordinate and mean vertical display coordinate.

At step 406, the center of the map, determined in display-coordinates atstep 404, may be transformed into longitude/latitude coordinates.

Please note that the process of determining the center of a displayedmap, in screen coordinates, and translating the screen coordinates intolongitude/latitude values, is well established and is commonly used inprior art.

At step 408, a database of POIs may be scanned to determine if a POImatching the longitude/latitude coordinates determined at step 406,exists. For example, a POI database may include a list of POIs (e.g.shopping centers, airports, amusement parks, etc.), including thelongitude/latitude coordinates of the POI.

At step 408, a list of all POIs within the coordinate range displayed onthe map may be retrieved and, in the event more than one POI isdetermined to be within the coordinate range, the POI closest to thecenter coordinates, determined at step 406, may be selected.

If at step 410 it is determined that at least one matching POI has beenfound at step 408, at step 412 advertisement content association withthe determined at step 408, may be retrieved from one or moreadvertising services, such as Google AdWords®, Facebook®, AdSense®,AdMob® etc. The advertising content may be related to one or more of:the POI at step 408 and/or one or more users and/or social connectionsof one or more users, and/or physical connection of the electronicdevice assumed in FIG. 4A.

At step 414, the advertisement content associated with the POI (“POIadvertisement content”), retrieved at step 412, may be displayed by themap-display application. In the presently-preferred embodiment, the POIadvertisement content may be displayed overlapping a part of—or theentirety of—the map displayed by the map-display application. In analternate embodiment, the POI advertisement content may be displayedreplacing the map previously displayed by the map-display application.In another embodiment, the POI advertisement content may be displayedexternally to the map displayed by the map-display application.

If at step 410 it is determined that no POI has been found at step 408,at step 420 the flow may terminate. In alternate embodiments, at step420 the user may be notified no POI has been found, for example audiblyas in a “beep” sound, or via a message indicating no POI advertisementcontent is available, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 4B, flow diagram 430 may be invoked when a zoomevent is received by the map-display application. If at step 432 it isdetermined that a “zoom-out” function has been invoked, at step 434 thePOI advertisement content may be removed or hidden (depending on the POIadvertisement content display-method used at step 414 in FIG. 4A.)

At step 436, the map ordinarily displayed at the highest-allowed zoomlevel, may be displayed to the user, unobstructed by POI advertisementcontent.

In alternate embodiments, as discussed in other figures, the logic offlow diagram 430 may be used in response to other events, such as a userpanning the map, inputting a different geographic region to map, etc.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are generalized flow diagrams illustrating methodologiesfor retrieving POI advertisement content for display, according tovarious possible embodiments of the present invention. POI advertisementcontent may be retrieved from a content data store; or, if POIadvertisement content is determine to not exist in a content data store,POI advertisement content may be retrieved from a website associatedwith the POI. Alternatively, content associated with a visible portionof a map may be retrieved and displayed as POI advertisement content.

Flow diagram 5A illustrates an embodiment in which advertisement contentassociated with a specific POI on a map is retrieved and displayed. Inresponse to a zoom-in event at step 501 (e.g. a user invoking a zoom-incommand on their map-displaying electronic device), at step 502 it maybe determined whether the highest-allowable zoom level has been reached.In alternate embodiments, it may be determined whether thehighest-allowable zoom level has been surpassed (i.e. in one embodimentzooming to the highest-allowable zoom level may display POIadvertisement content, whereas in another embodiment attempting tozoom-in, once at the highest-allowable zoom level, may display POIadvertisement content.)

If at step 502 it is determined the highest-allowable zoom level hasbeen reached/surpassed (see discussion in earlier section), at step 504,the POI in focus may be determined (see example logic for determiningPOI in focus in flow diagram 400 in FIG. 4B.)

At step 506, advertising engine (e.g. an online service such as GoogleAdWords® or a social network like Facebook®, Facebook's Ad Exchange®,etc.) may be searched for advertisement content associated with the POIin focus, identified at step 504. In one embodiment, a database maycontain various types of advertisement content associated with varioustypes of POIs. For example, POIs representing shopping malls may haveassociated POI advertisement content associated with stores, such assales. The advertisement content may be served via any popularcontextual advertising service such as Google's AdWords®, Facebook®,etc.

Information gathered from the electronic device (e.g. its GPS location),and/or user of the electronic device (e.g. user's friends on Facebook®)may be used at step 506 to retrieve the advertisement content.

If at step 508 it is determined that, at step 506, POI advertisementcontent associated with the POI in focus has been found, at step 510 thePOI advertisement content may be retrieved. At step 512 the POIadvertisement content may be displayed.

If at step 508 it is determined that no POI advertisement content hasbeen found at step 506, at step 514 a website associated with POIadvertisement content 514, may be sought. At step 516, the website foundat step 514, may be crawled to obtain content relevant to the POI.(Please see FIGS. 8 and 13 for discussion on automatically identifyingand retrieving POI advertisement content from the internet.)

At step 512, POI advertisement content retrieved at step 516 may bedisplayed.

Referring now to FIG. 5B, flow diagram 550 illustrates an alternateembodiment in which POI advertisement content applies to an entirevisible portion of a map. For example, POIs may not be displayed on azoomed-in portion of a map for various reasons: no POIs may exist forthat portion of the map; and/or the user may have turned off an optionto display POIs; and/or mapping settings/preferences may have been setto treat a zoomed-in portion of a map as a single POI. In suchembodiment, POI advertisement content (e.g. street photograph) whichapplies to the entire visible zoomed-in region, may be displayed.

At step 551, a user command to zoom in a map may be received. Forexample, on a hand-held device such as the iPhone®, the user may performa “pinching-out” movement indicating a zoom-in command. In response, atstep 552, it may be determined whether a maximum zoom level has beenreached (i.e. no further map tiles with mapping/satellite data areavailable at the newly-requested zoom level). In an alternateembodiment, a logical “maximum zoom level” may be defined as analternative to a physical zoom-in limitation defined by the lack of newmap tiles/data to represent the newly-desired zoom level.

If at step 552 it is determined that the maximum zoom level has beenreached, at step 554 it may be determined that content associated withthe entire visible section of the map—as opposed to content associatedwith a specific POI on the map—should be retrieved.

At step 556, the visible section of the map may be identified. Forexample, in a map showing city streets, an entire city street (orvisible portion thereof) may be identified as a collective POI. (asopposed to a specific POI, such as an individual house, store, landmark,etc.)

At step 558, advertisement content associated with the collective POI(i.e. visible section of the displayed map) may be retrieved and at step560, the content may be displayed to the user.

FIG. 6 is a generalized flow diagram illustrating demarcating andflagging locations on a map for which POI advertisement content exists,according to one possible embodiment of the present invention. Forexample, a user viewing a map containing a large number of restaurants,may choose to have restaurants whose menus are available as POIadvertisement content, to be flagged. This would allow the user to panover the map and “zoom into” those restaurants whose menus will bedisplayed once the user has zoomed in.

At step 602, a zoom-in, zoom-out or a pan event occurs. For example, theuser increases the zoom level of a map, or decreases the zoom level of amap, or pans the map in any direction.

At step 604, a query, containing the new range of coordinates visible ona map, may be submitted to a POI advertisement content data store (e.g.an online server connected to a database containing POI advertisementcontent, locally-cached POI advertisement content, etc.)

At step 606, a list of POIs (e.g. containing, at minimum, thecoordinates of each POI) may be retrieved. In one embodiment, a databaseengine associated with the POI data store may execute a query to returnall POIs whose coordinates are within the range submitted at step 604.In alternate embodiments, the returned list may include other dataassociated with the POIs, such as thumb-nail photos, etc.

At step 608, all POIs on the list at step 606 may be flagged on the map.For example, a location marker (such as a pushpin icon) may be displayedon the map at the coordinates corresponding with every POI on the listat step 606.

At step 610, flow 600 may end. In alternate embodiments, the POIsflagged on a map, based on the availability of POI advertisement contentfor these POIs, may be grouped by—or delimited by—an association amongthe POIs. For example, POIs flagged on a map may represent POIs thathave associated POI advertisement content and that have been defined bya social networking group (Please see FIG. 11 for further discussion.)For example, a dozen bars in a city block may have POI advertisementcontent associated with them, but only five of them may be flagged on amap that is being used by the members of a social network frequentingonly these five bars.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are generalized block diagrams illustrating displayingPOI advertisement content on top of a map, obscuring only a portion ofthe map, according to one possible embodiment of the present invention.While in some embodiments discussed in previous figures, it may beadvantageous to replace a map with POI advertisement content (e.g. onPDAs and smart phones, where screen size is too small to display both amap and POI advertisement content), in other embodiments it may beadvantageous to display POI advertisement content as an imagesuperimposed on the map. For example, when a map is displayed on a largescreen, POI advertisement content may take up a small area of the map.In such case it may be more useful for the user to see the POIadvertisement content, while being able to view the map around it.

Another advantage of displaying POI advertisement content as a separateimage superimposed on a map, may be the increased speed for redrawingthe map once the POI advertisement content is removed. When POIadvertisement content needs to be removed or hidden (for example, when auser pans the map or zooms out) it may be faster to hide/remove anoverlay showing POI advertisement content, as discussed in thisembodiment, than to redraw the map, as may be required in an embodimentwhere map content is replaced with POI advertisement content.

Referring to FIG. 7A, map-display application 700 may display a map 702.In response to a zoom-in event past the highest-allowable zoom level(for example, as indicated by the zoom-indication bar labeled “Layout”706) POI advertisement content 704 may be displayed over map 702 inmap-display application 700.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, POI advertisement content 704 maybe displayed centered over the POI location it is associated with (i.e.the center of the POI advertisement content may be at the coordinates asthe center of the POI location.) In alternate embodiments, POIadvertisement content 704 may be displayed at other locations on themap, for example in a corner of the map, in an attempt to keep the POIlocation associated with POI advertisement content 704, un-obscured fromthe user's view. In another embodiment the user may be able to setpreferences for the default placement of POI advertisement content. Inyet another possible embodiment, the user may be able to use a pointingdevice to move the POI advertisement content on the map.

Referring now to FIG. 7B, in commonly-used mapping technologies (e.g.used by mapping services such as Google Maps®, Yahoo! Maps®, WindowsLive Search Maps®, etc.) a map 702 is composed of map tiles (e.g. maptile “x1, y1, z” 710, which is part of a matrix of twenty map tiles,x1,y1,z1-x5,y4,z1) In response to user requests such as zoom, pan andselecting new locations, new map tiles may be loaded and displayed bymapping application 700. Technologies such as AJAX, HTML, DHTML,Javascript, etc. may be used to render a map from map tiles generated bya mapping server.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, POI advertisement content may bedisplayed as a map overlay object. An overlay object is an object on themap that is tied to latitude/longitude coordinates, so it can move whenthe map is dragged (i.e. panned) or zoomed. An overlay object maydisplay content—for example an image—whose source is different from thesource of the map. Various types of overlays may be used in theimplementation of the present invention; for example, custom overlays,layer overlays, etc.

According to the present invention, map 702 may be constructed from maptiles transmitted to map-display application 700 from a mapping server,while overlay object 714 may display POI advertisement content as animage (or in the form of other media) transmitted to map-displayapplication 700 from a different source than the mapping server.

Various styles and methods may be used to construct, present and hidePOI advertisement content to the user. Overlay object 714, displayingPOI advertisement content, may be constructed (i.e. rendered with POIadvertisement content) in the device's memory, invisible to the user.Overlay object 714 may become visible to the user only once all POIadvertisement content has been retrieved and rendered on thememory-resident overlay object.

An overlay object may be removed from the user's view using variousmethods, including but not limited to, invoking the “hide” (or similar)method of the overlay object 714, invoking the “remove” (or similar)method of overlay object 714, by unloading the overlay object 714 frommemory, etc.

A shadow effect graphic 716 may be displayed in proximity of overlayobject 714. Shadow effect graphic 716 may comprise a graphics displayedas translucent, such that map tiles obscured by shadow effect graphic716 (e.g. map tile x5,y2,z 718) may be partially visible. Shadow effectsmay be used both for aesthetics and to help delineate for the user POIadvertisement content from the map.

FIG. 8 is a generalized block diagrams illustrating automaticallyobtaining POI advertisement content, according to one possibleembodiment of the present invention. Content associated with a POI maynot exist in a data store. The internet may be searched automaticallyfor content associated with a POI, for display to the user as POIadvertisement content.

Map-display application 800 may display a selected area of a map 802.Map 802 may display a pushpin 804, indicating the existence ofinformation associated with a POI (in this example “Great Mall”). Inresponse to a user command to zoom-in to/past the highest-allowed zoomlevel, an automatic process may search the internet for contentassociated with the POI in focus (in this example, the POI associatedwith the pushpin 804) and display the content to the user.

Map-display application 800 may perform electronic searches on theinternet 810. Various searches may be conducted to identify a websiteassociated with the POI in focus (e.g. marked by pushpin 804) Forexample, online versions of yellow pages, search engines such as Google®and online directories mashing search engine information with geographiclocations, may be searched to identify a website associated with a POI.

A website associated with a POI is likely to have a main landing page812 (usually named “index.htm”, “index.htm”, etc.) containingun-compiled computer code (e.g. HTML, DHTML, Javascript, XML, etc.) Thecode of the landing page may be scanned for terms associated withcontent. For example, terms including “directory”, “map”, “content”,“layout”, etc. that are part of hyperlinks and that contain suffixes(e.g. “.html”, “.htm”, “.asp”, “.aspx”, etc.) may point to another webpage containing relevant content, or links, to relevant content. Forexample, term “directory.asp” 814 on page “index.html” 812 is part of alink “http://www.greatmall.co.com/html/storedirectory.asp” to web page“storedirectory.asp” 816.

Pages on the websites may be further crawled to identify relevantcontent. Page “storedirectory.asp” 816 may be scanned for termsidentifying graphics (e.g. “.jpg”, “.gif”, “.png”, etc.) A hyperlinkcontaining a graphics suffixes (e.g.“http://www.greatmall.co.com/maps/thumbs/1607.jpg” containing suffix“.jpg” 818) may be followed to the associated graphic. In this example,image “1607.jpg” 820 may be retrieved by map-display application 800 anddisplayed as POI advertisement content 806.

Please note that the process of crawling a website to identify aspecific type of content, as summarized in the two preceding paragraphs,is well understood in prior art and is used widely by the majority ofthe search engines—thus the present invention may rely on this processto derive POI advertisement content.

In another embodiment, crawling websites to identify POI advertisementcontent may be performed routinely (in a manner analogous to thecrawling performed by web search engines such as Google® to indexgeneral web sites) and POI advertisement content identified may beaggregated into one or more data stores dedicated to POI advertisementcontent. Future searches for POI advertisement content may be performedagainst such dedicated POI advertisement content data stores.

FIG. 9 is a generalized block diagrams illustrating displaying POIadvertisement content in response to a command in a context menu,according to one possible embodiments of the present invention. Acontext menu (or pop-up menu, or any menu which is displayed in responseto a user's action, such as clicking an item in a graphical userinterface, offering a list of options which vary depending on thecontext of the action, the application running, and the item selected)may be used to assist the user of a map-display application to alterviews and display additional information on a map.

Map-display application 900, displaying a map 904, may display a contextmenu 908 in response to a user action (e.g. a pointing-device actionsuch as right-clicking the mouse.) At present, in common mappingapplications, context menu 908 may include functions such as “Add apushpin”, “Drive from . . . ”, “Drive to . . . ”, “1-click directions”,“Center map here”, “Zoom to street level”, “Zoom to city level”, etc. Auser's selecting one of the functions above, from the context menu, maycause the map-display application to perform the requested function,which may result in the retrieval of more data from online resources andthe display of additional information.

In previous embodiments of the present invention, the discussionincluded a user's zoom-in action which in turn may cause the display ofPOI advertisement content. In an alternate embodiment illustrated inFIG. 9, a user may choose a function from the context menu to displayPOI advertisement content.

For example, the function “Zoom to layout” 910 may display on contextmenu 908, associated with map-display application 900. In response to auser's selection of the “Zoom to layout” 910 function, map-displayapplication 900 may retrieve and display POI advertisement content (e.g.associated with a location 906 marked on the map 904)

Similarly, keyboard shortcuts may be used to invoke a function todisplay POI advertisement content associated with a location on the map.Keyboard shortcuts are commonly used on computing devices, allowing auser to send a command to an application with a simple keystroke. Forexample, the key combination “control-c” is commonly used as a “copy”function. In an analogous manner, a different key-combination may bedefined in the map-display application, allowing a user to use akey-combination to invoke the display of POI advertisement contentassociated with a map, or location on a map, displayed by themap-display application.

In a portable device (e.g. a smart phone such as the iPhone®, Palmdevice, etc.) a touch screen may be used to invoke the display of POIcontent on a map displayed on the device. For example, certain inputreceived from the touch screen, resulting from a user's touch and/orstylus touch, may generate a command to display POI advertisementcontent on the map.

FIGS. 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D are generalized block diagrams illustratingdisplaying varied POI advertisement content association with a locationon a map, according to other possible embodiments of the presentinvention. A user may be displayed varied types of POI advertisementcontent associated with a selected location on a map, and the user maychoose the type of POI advertisement content to display.

Referring to FIG. 10A, map-display application 1000 may display a map1004. In most commonly-used mapping applications, the user is allowed tochoose a zoom-level for the display of the map. For example, zoom-levelsmay be quantified b zoom-terms such as “USA”, “State”, “City”, “Street”,etc. A user may select a zoom-term and in response, the map may bezoomed to a pre-determined zoom-level. For example, the user may choosezoom-term “Street” 1002, causing map 1004 to display a map at a “streetlevel” (i.e. generally the highest-obtainable zoom level, commonlydisplaying one or more houses and a few streets.)

Referring now to FIG. 10B, the user may select a zoom-term associatedwith POI advertisement content. For example, the user may select thezoom-term labeled “Home” 1010 which, in this example, may display realestate-related information.

In response to a user's selecting a zoom-term associated with POIadvertisement content, a POI advertisement content menu 1013, listingall available POI advertisement content types, may be displayed. In thisexample, POI advertisement content menu 1013 may list content-type-termssuch as “Home Layout” 1012, “Information”, “Real Estate Co”, “Finance”,etc.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, a POI advertisement content menumay be rendered dynamically, depending on the types of POI advertisementcontent associated with a location on a map. In alternate embodiments,services providing a mapping service and POI advertisement content (forexample, real estate companies) may specify the content of a POIadvertisement content menu. In other embodiments other methods may beused to display the content-type-terms used in a POI advertisementcontent menu.

In this example, a user's selecting content-type-term “Home Layout” 1012may cause a layout map of the house at the focal point of the map, to bedisplayed as POI advertisement content 1014. POI advertisement content1014 may be an image, media, KML (for Keyhole Markup Language) file,document, etc.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, POI advertisement content 1014may display over the map, possibly leaving portions of the map 1004visible to the user. In alternate embodiments, POI advertisement content1014 may be displayed in place of map 1004 (or over the entirety of map1004 obscuring map 1004 completely.)

Referring now to FIG. 10C, a user may select a differentcontent-type-term (e.g. “Information” 1020) from POI advertisementcontent menu 1013, which may cause a different POI advertisement content1022 to be displayed. In this example, selecting content-type-term“Information” 1020 may cause POI advertisement content 1022 to display.POI advertisement content 1022 may contain information on the house atthe focal point of the map 1004.

Referring now to FIG. 10D, a user may select a differentcontent-type-term (e.g. “Real Estate Co” 1030) from POI advertisementcontent menu 1013, which may cause a different POI advertisement content1032 to be displayed. In this example, selecting content-type-term “RealEstate Co” 1030 may cause POI advertisement content 1032 to display. POIadvertisement content 1032 may contain, for example, information on thereal estate company listing the house at the focal point of the map1004.

In alternate embodiments, map-display application 1000 may store thelast user selection of content-type-term from POI advertisement contentmenu 1013. In response to a user zoom-in action at the “Home” 1010level, the POI advertisement content displayed may correspond to thelast type of POI advertisement content displayed previously. Forexample, a user may select content-type-term “Information” 1020 from thePOI advertisement content menu 1013. Then the user may zoom-out, causingPOI advertisement content to not be displayed. The user may pan the mapuntil another house becomes the focal point of the map. The user mayzoom-in to the “Home” level 1010 and the POI advertisement contentdisplayed may be “Information” pertaining to the house which is now thefocal point.

FIG. 11 is a generalized block diagram illustrating displaying POIadvertisement content associated with social networking websites,according to one possible embodiment of the present invention. Socialnetworking websites, such as MySpace™, Facebook™, etc. allow users toexchange information about themselves and their interests with remoteusers. For example, users can create a virtual community and geo-tag(i.e. assign content to a geographic location) common points ofinterest.

Please note that in FIG. 11, one map-display application is shown in twophases: as map-display application 1100 a and then as map-displayapplication 1100 b. Items related to the map-display application arelabeled 1101 a, 1104 a, and 1106 a when displayed in conjunction withone phase of the map display application 1100 a. When displayed inconjunction with the second phase 1100 b of the map-display application,the items above are labeled 1101 b, 1104 b and 1106 b, respectively.

A map-display application 1100 a may display a map 1101 a. Map 1101 amay include geographic content (“POI”) 1106 a (e.g. buildings,landmarks, etc.) POI 1106 a may be marked (e.g. by pushpins 1104 a)denoting POI advertisement content associated with the POI 1106 a.

Map 1101 a may be displayed at the maximum-zoom level (e.g. as indicatedby the zoom-level “Street” 1102) Attempting to zoom past themaximum-zoom level (e.g. as indicated by the zoom-level “Layout” 1110)may cause the display of POI advertisement content 1112 on map 1101 b inmap-display application 1100 b. POI advertisement content 1112 may beassociated with the POI 1106 b at the focal point of the map, and/orwith a pushpin 1104 b suggesting availability of POI advertisementcontent associated with the POI 1106 b.

While the displaying of the POI advertisement content at themaximum-zoom level has been described above, there are various otherconditions under which the POI advertisement content can be displayed.As zoom technology improves, it may be possible to obtain very detailedmaps and it may be more useful to display the POI advertisement contentat a zoom level lower than the maximum zoom. For example, the POIadvertisement content may be displayed when a predetermined zoom levelhas been exceeded, which the user can set. In one embodiment, the usermay wish to have POI information at all zoom levels. Alternatively, theuser may set the POI advertisement content to only be displayed when apredetermined zoom level is met such as: street level or a predeterminedviewing scale. The scale of the display is a ratio of physical size todisplayed size. Thus, a map of a city street may be displayed at a scaleof 1:10,000 or 1 inch=1,000 feet or any other ratio.

As discussed above, the zoom level can correspond to a specific scaleand in an embodiment, the POI information can be set to any zoom levelby the user. At the lowest zoom level, the entire planet may bedisplayed and POI information can be the Earth's physicalcharacteristics: diameter, volume, mass, speed of rotation, etc. As theuser zooms in, continents may be displayed and the POI information mayinclude information about each displayed continent such as: population,area, climate, number of countries, etc. Similar POI information may beprovided for zoom levels that display: cities, districts, streets,blocks and buildings.

POI advertisement content 1112 may be related to social networking. Forexample, if POI 1106 b were the place of residence of one of the membersof an online network/group, POI advertisement content 1112 may presentthe member's information/blog/website, etc. In another example, POI 1106b may be a sports stadium/concert hall/restaurant/bar/meeting place ofsignificant to members of a social network, whereby POI advertisementcontent 1112 may be information related to the meeting place, such asvenue/menu/hours of operation/website etc.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, map 1101 b may be automaticallycentered within map-display application 1100 b, in response to a zoomaction to the “Layout” 1110 level. Map 1101 b may be automaticallyrepositioned (panned) such that POI 1106 b is at the center, as comparedto the previous display position of the POI 1106 a (shown right-and-topof center) on map 1101 a, displayed at a “Street” 1102 zoom level.

FIGS. 12A, 12B, 12C and 12D are a generalized flow diagrams illustratingvarious algorithms used by a map-display application for retrieving anddisplaying POI advertisement content, according to numerous possibleembodiments of the present invention. Map-display applications (e.g. webbrowser-based applications with a back-end mapping service, such asGoogle Maps®, Yahoo! Maps®, Windows Live Search Maps®, etc.) respond touser requests, in the form of events. An event is registered to bereceived by the map-display application from the operating system on theclient device. An event (e.g. “zoom-in” event) may be generated inresponse to a user's action (e.g. rolling the trackball of a mouseupwards). In response to an event, a map-display application may requestnew map tiles, new images, etc. and/or change its display.

Mapping services, (e.g. Google Maps®, Yahoo! Maps®, Windows Live SearchMaps®, etc.) provide application programming interface (“API”) to allowa web page to interface with a the mapping service. The example belowillustrates interfacing with Yahoo! Maps®, however APIs provided byother mapping services may be used to implement the present invention towork with all other mapping services.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, a web browser (“map-displayapplication”) may be enabled for displaying a map off of a remotemapping server. Code may be added to a web page to allow the web page todisplay a map off of a remote mapping server, while executing within themap-display application. An example of one possible implementation ofcreating a map-enabled web page:

Including Yahoo! Maps AJAX API in a webpage and initializing a map  1<html>  2 <head>  3 <script type=“text/javascript”  4src=“http://api.maps.yahoo.com/ajaxymap?v=3.7&appid=YahooDemo”>  5</script>  6 <style type=“text/css”>  7 #map{  8 height: 75%;  9 width:100%;  10 }  11 </style>  12 </head>  13 <body>  14 <div id=“map”></div> 15 <script type=“text/javascript”>  16 // Create a map object  17 varmap = new YMap(document.getElementById(‘map’));  18 // Add map typecontrol  19 map.addTypeControl( );  20 // Add map zoom (long) control 21 map.addZoomLong( );  22 // Add the Pan Control  23map.addPanControl( );  24 // Set map type to either of: YAHOO_MAP_SAT,YAHOO_MAP_HYB,  25 // YAHOO_MAP_REG  26 map.setMapType(YAHOO_MAP_SAT); 27 // Set the map zoom rang  28 map.setZoomRange(0,16);  29 // Displaythe map centered on a geocoded location  30 map.drawZoomAndCenter(“SanFrancisco”, 3); 100 </script> 101 </body> 102 </html>

Referring to FIG. 12A, flow chart 1200 illustrates one example ofinitializing a map-display application, registering zoom and pan eventsand creating an overlay object (for future display of POI advertisementcontent.)

At step 1202, map creation and initialization steps may take place. Forexample, initialization steps may include: referencing the Yahoo! MapsAJAX API library with a unique code id (line 4 in the code snippetabove), creating a map object (line 17), adding a zoom control to themap (line 21), adding a pan control (line 23), setting the type of mapto be displayed (line 26), etc.

At step 1204, a zoom-range for the map may be set (line 28). Azoom-range is a value-pair with one value specifying the lowest/minimumzoom level and one specifying the highest/maximum zoom level. In thisexample, Yahoo! Maps® API is used, thus code “map.setZoomRange(0,16);”(line 28) indicates the highest/maximum zoom level being “0” andlowest/minimum being 16. In other examples where other mapping services'API is used (e.g. Google Maps® API) other conventions may be used (e.g.lower number indicating the minimum zoom level, such as zero for Earthfrom space, and the higher number indicating the maximum zoom level.)

At step 1206 the geocoded location of the map may be transmitted to themapping server (line 30) and map tiles may be received from the mappingserver and displayed, at step 1208.

User commands, such as zoom and pan, transmitted to the map-displayapplication (e.g. via an input device such as keyboard, touch screen,stylus, mouse, etc.) may be used to trigger the logic for displaying POIadvertisement content. Sample code to capture events (i.e. eventsgenerated by user commands, such as zoom and pan) may include, in oneimplementation:

Capturing zoom/pan events 40 //Register to capture a zoom event 41YEvent.Capture(map, EventsList.changeZoom, POIContentZoom); 42//Register to capture a pan event 43 YEvent.Capture(map,EventsList.changePan, POIContentPan);

At step 1210, zoom and pan events may be registered to be captured andin response, functions to handle the events may be assigned. Forexample, a function “POIContentZoom( )” to be called upon a user zoomevent may be assigned (line 41). Another function “POIContentPan( )” maybe assigned to handle user pan events (line 43).

POI advertisement content may be displayed as an overlay object. Anoverlay object is an objects on the map that is tied tolatitude/longitude coordinates, so it can move when the map is dragged(i.e. panned) or zoomed. An overlay object may display content—forexample an image—whose source is different from the source of the map.Various types of overlay objects may be used in the implementation ofthe present invention; for example, custom overlays, layer overlays,etc. An example of one possible implementation of creating an overlayobject on a map:

Adding overlay object to map to contain and display POI advertisementcontent 50 var cPoint = new YCoordPoint(50,50); //define point on mapfor overlay 51 var cOverlay = new YCustomOverlay(cPoint); //createoverlay object 52 var cObject = YUtility.createNode(‘IMG’,‘overlay01’);//create note of type image 53 //define source of image to be used inoverlay 54 cObject.src =‘http://www.wikimap.com/images/placeholder.gif’; 55cObject.style.width=0; //initially overlay has no width or height sodoesn't show 56 cObject.style.height=0; 57 // attach object to overlay58 YUtility.appendNode(cOverlay,cObject); 59 // add overlay to map 60map.addOverlay(cOverlay);

At step 1212, an overlay object may be added to the map displayed atstep 1208. In this example, the coordinates on the map where POIadvertisement content would later be displayed may be defined (line 50),an overlay object may be declared as an image (line 52), the source(i.e. URL) of a blank placeholder image may be defined (line 54), theoverlay image may be set to size zero (lines 55 and 56), overlayproperties may be assigned to the overlay object (line 58), and theoverlay object may be added to the map object (line 60).

In this example, a dummy image may be assigned to an overlay object as aplaceholder for future POI advertisement content, and the overlayobject, being of size zero, may be added to the map. Using thisalgorithm of pre-creating a blank, invisible overlay object before anyPOI advertisement content is selected, then when POI advertisementcontent becomes available, rendering of POI advertisement content andresizing the overlay object to make the POI advertisement contentvisible, may make the rendering of POI advertisement content faster.

In alternate embodiments, other algorithms may be used, for example,hiding the overlay object until POI advertisement content needs to bedisplayed, creating an overlay object only at the time POI advertisementcontent needs to be displayed, using other types of overlays (e.g. tostore media) and assigning various styles to overlays (e.g. differentstyles for different types of POI advertisement content) etc.

At step 1214 other functionality may be added and other processesinvoked.

Referring now to FIG. 12B, the logic of flowchart 1220 may beimplemented in response to a zoom event (i.e. the operating systemnotifying the map-display application that a zoom command has beenissued, for example via a user's input device.) An example of onepossible implementation of the function “POIContentZoom ( )”, assignedto handle zoom events (line 41):

Function POIContentZoom( ) 70 function POIContentZoom (_e, _c){ 71 if(map.getZoomLevel( )==1) 72 {  // code to identify POI in focus andrequest information from   server 73 // code to define new image inoverlay 74 // code to make overlay visible 75 // code toreposition/resize overlay to fit over POI on map 76 // any other codefor displaying POI advertisement content in overlay 77POIcontentVisible=true; //indicate overlay is visible through a variable78 } else if (POIcontentVisible) 79 { 80 // code to hide overlay 81 //any other code to restore map to original size/postion/view 82POIcontentVisible=false; //indicate overlay is not visible through avariable 83  } 84 }

At step 1222, function “POIContentZoom (_e, _c)” (line 70) may beautomatically invoked in response to a user's zoom action. At step 1224,if is determined that the maximum zoom level is reached (e.g. zoom levelis 1 where 1 is the maximum, see line 71) at steps 1228-1238, the POIadvertisement content associated with the POI on the map, may beretrieved and displayed.

At step 1228, the coordinates and/or name and/or other identifier (“POIinformation”) of the POI in focus may be obtained (line 72). At step1230 the POI information may be transmitted to a server (e.g. mappingserver, POI advertisement content server, database, etc.) to identifythe POI and search for POI advertisement content associated with the POIinformation.

At step 1232, POI advertisement content (i.e. a link to an image, or anyother media file) may be received from the server. At step 1234, theimage/media/POI advertisement content received may be assigned to theoverlay object (line 73).

At step 1236, the overlay object may be made visible to the user (line74). At step 1238, additional functionality may be added. For example,the overlay object may be repositioned and/or resized with respect tothe POI on the map (line 75). An internally-defined variable trackingthe visibility of the overlay object may be set to “true” (line 77) toindicate the overlay object is visible.

If at step 1224 it is determined the maximum level of the map has notbeen reached, referring now to FIG. 12C, the logic of flow diagram 1240may be invoked.

If at step 1242 it is determined an overlay object is visible (line 78)at step 1250 the overlay object may be hidden/made invisible (line 80).At step 1252 other functionality may be invoked to restore the map toits previous state (line 81). An internally-defined variable trackingthe visibility of the overlay object may be set to “false” (line 82) toindicate the overlay object is not visible.

If at step 1242 it is determined the overlay object is not visible, atstep 1248 the flow of the present invention may end (otherfunctionality, outside the scope of the present invention, may beinvoked—e.g. updating routes, traffic information, etc.).

Referring now to FIG. 12D, flow diagram 1260 illustrates logic forhandling pan events (for example, the logic of function “POIContentZoom( )” defined in line 43 to be automatically invoked in response to a panevent.)

At step 1262, a pan event-handling function (e.g. “POIContentZoom 0”) iscalled in response to a pan event. If at step 1263 it is determined theoverlay object is visible, steps 1264-1274 may be executed.

If at step 1264 it is determined the current POI (i.e. the POIassociated with the POI advertisement content displayed in the overlayobject) is visible, at step 1270 it may be determined whether anotherPOI (“new POI”) on the visible map is closer to the new center of themap than the current POI. If a new POI is determined at step 1270, atstep 1272 information on the new POI is obtained (e.g. coordinates,name, etc.) and at step 1274, step 1230 in FIG. 12B may be invoked todisplay POI advertisement content associated with the new POI. If atstep 1270 it is determined no new POI exists, flow 1260 may terminate.

If at step 1264 it is determined the current POI is not visible on themap, at step 1276 the overlay object may be terminated (e.g. hidden fromview, unloaded from memory, etc.)

Following step 1276—or if at step 1263 it is determined no overlay isvisible—at step 1278 it may be determined whether another POI is infocus. If it is determined at step 1278 another POI is in focus, step1228 in FIG. 12B may be invoked to display new POI advertisement contentassociated with the other POI determined to be in focus at step 1278.

The flow diagrams depicted in FIGS. 12A-12D, and any associated computercode listed, are examples of one way of implementing the presentinvention—many other implementations, logical flows and code arepossible without departing from the spirit of the invention. Yahoo!Maps® API was chosen for illustrative purposes only and other mappingservices' APIs may be used with minor modification to the codeillustrated here.

FIG. 13 is a generalized block diagrams illustrating retrieving POIadvertisement content from web sties associated with points of interest(“POI”) on a map, according to one possible embodiments of the presentinvention. POIs appearing on a map (e.g. stores, restaurants,attractions, etc.) commonly have associated web sites on the world-wideweb. A web site usually consists of one or more web pages, one of whichis common landing page. For example, the US PTO office at 600 DulanySt., Alexandria, Va. 22314 may be marked on a map as a result of asearch. The US PTO's website, www.uspto.gov may be obtained as part ofthe result-set of the same search.

In present mapping technologies, a link may exist between a POI on a mapand a web site associated with the POI. For example, searching for theterm “pizza” in a city, on Google Maps®, may display markers in alllocations where pizza restaurants were found. Clicking on a markerdisplays standardized information about the POI, such as link to awebsite, address, links to reviews, links to driving directions, linksto contacting the POI, etc.

Please note that in FIG. 13, one map-display application is shown in twophases: as map-display application 1300 a and then as map-displayapplication 1300 b. Items related to the map-display application arelabeled 1302 a and 1304 a when displayed in conjunction with one phaseof the map display application 1300 a. When displayed in conjunctionwith the second phase 1300 b of the map-display application, the itemsabove are labeled 1302 b, 1304 b, respectively.

Map-display application 1300 a may display a map containing a POI 1306.Map-display application 1300 a may also display a zoom control 1302 a.(In this example, zoom control 1302 a may display a series of bars toindicate the current zoom level. The right-most and largest bar 1304 ais not colored, indicating the highest zoom level has not been reached.)

Once the map in map-display application 1300 b has been zoomed in to themaximum level (e.g. as indicated by zoom control 1302 b where theright-most bar 1304 b is in solid color) POI advertisement content 1312,associated with the POI 1306, may be displayed.

In this example, POI 1306 is a restaurant and the associated POIadvertisement content 1312 is the restaurant's menu. In other examplesPOI 1306 may be any type of business and the associated POIadvertisement content 1312 may be any text, image, media, etc.associated with the POI 1306.

POI advertisement content 1312 may reside in a web page 1308 on theworld-wide web 1320. In other possible embodiments, POI advertisementcontent 1312 may reside elsewhere on the world-wide web 1320 and bepointed to from web page 1308 (ex. via a hyperlink.)

In yet another possible embodiment, web page 1308 may contain a tag (forexample <wikimap>true</wikimap> 1310) indicating to map-displayapplication 1300 b that content on, and/or pointed-to from, web page1308 is to be used as POI advertisement content 1312. In suchembodiment, a business may tag a web page with a pre-determined tag,indicating to map-display applications that a tagged web page is to bedisplayed as POI advertisement content.

For example, a restaurant may add a web page to its website containingPOI advertisement content, such as a menu. That web page may be taggedwith a pre-determined tags (e.g. <wikimap>true</wikimap> 1310)indicating to map-display applications that POI advertisement content iscontained in that web page. When a map displaying a POI 1306 is zoomedto/past the highest-zoom level, map-display application 1300 a maysearch the world-wide web 1320 for a website associated with the POI1306. The website may then be searched for a web page tagged as the POIadvertisement content-containing page 1308, and the content in thewebpage 1308 may then be displayed by the map-display application 1300 bas POI advertisement content 1312. (In this example, the restaurant'smenu is the POI advertisement content.)

In alternate embodiments, other methods may be used to allow businessesto provide their individual POI advertisement content for display when amap showing their business is zoomed into POI advertisementcontent-display mode.

FIGS. 14A and 14B are generalized block diagrams illustrating retrievingand displaying POI advertisement content from a mapping server,according to one possible embodiments of the present invention. Atpresent, client-sided map-display applications obtain mapping data frommapping servers. Maps are composed of graphical images, known as “maptiles”, that are transmitted from a mapping server, and assembled anddisplayed as a map a map-display application.

Map tiles of a geographic region not supported by a certain zoom levelare often blank (i.e. show no geographic data other than text, such as“we are sorry but we don't have imagery at this zoom level for thisregion. Try zooming out for a broader look.”)

Referring to FIG. 14A, a four-phase sequence is shown where amap-display application is shown in four different phases at differentzoom levels. In each phase, map tiles are retrieved from the mappingserver (or local cache if a map tile had already been retrieved from themapping server and saved locally) and are stitched together to form amap.

In the first phase, map-display application 1400 a may display a map1401 a (e.g. an aerial view of an airport) at a zoom level correspondingto 75% of the maxim zoom level (as shown by zoom indicator 1402 a“75%”.)

In the second phase, map-display application 1400 b may display azoomed-in map 1401 b (e.g. the same airport in map 1401 a but shown in ahigher zoom level) at a zoom level corresponding to 100% of the maximzoom level (as shown by zoom indicator 1402 b “100%”.)

In the third phase, in accordance with the methodology used in priorart, in response to a user's “zoom-in” command past thehighest-supported zoom level (as illustrated by zoom indicator 1402 c“Max+1” to indicate a zoom level exceeding the normal maximum zoom levelof the map.) the mapping server may return blank map tiles 1420(commonly notifying the user, in plain text, that no imagery isavailable at the present zoom level.)

In the fourth phase, in response to a user's “zoom out” command,map-display application 1400 d may display map 1401 d (identical to map1401 b) at a 100% zoom level (as shown by zoom indicator 1402 d “100%”.)

While the sequence shown in FIG. 14A illustrates the operation of priorart (a user zooms-in multiple times, with each increased zoom levelshowing a closer-up view. At a certain zoom level the user sees blanktiles with text indicating no data is available at that zoom level. Theuser then realizes they have zoomed in too far, so they zoom out and seemap imagery at the highest supported zoom level,) FIG. 14B illustrates asimilar sequence benefiting from the art disclosed in the presentinvention.

Referring now to FIG. 14B, map-display application 1400 b may displaymap 1401 b at a 100% zoom level. Let us assume that is the highestzoom-level for which a mapping server can display a map of that region.A subsequent zoom-in command may then display POI advertisement content1430 (e.g. an airline ad, as in “Fly Virgin, London from $799”) A zoomindictor may be labeled “Max+1” 1402 c to indicate zooming is past thenormal highest zoomable level of the map.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, map tiles at a zoom-level forwhich no geographic mapping content is available, may be rendered withPOI advertisement content by the mapping server. Thus a map-displayapplication on a user's device, requesting map tiles corresponding to agiven zoom-level from a mapping server, may receive map imagery at onezoom level, and POI advertisement content at another zoom level.

In alternate embodiments, a map-display application on a user's device,in response to receiving blank map tiles from a mapping server, may thenobtain and display POI advertisement content from another source.

The examples above demonstrate the power and flexibility of the presentinvention in retrieving and displaying POI advertisement contentassociated with one or more POIs on a map.

The invention has been described with reference to particularembodiments. However, it will be readily apparent to those skilled inthe art that it is possible to embody the invention in specific formsother than those of the preferred embodiments described above. This maybe done without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Thus, the preferred embodiment is merely illustrative and should not beconsidered restrictive in any way. The scope of the invention is givenby the appended claims, rather than the preceding description, and allvariations and equivalents which fall within the range of the claims areintended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of displaying advertisement content onan electronic map displaying geographic content, in response to azoom-in command on the electronic map, comprising: providing anelectronic device having a map display application that is coupled tothe internet and a display for displaying a selected area of anelectronic map; providing two types of content: geographic content andadvertisement content, wherein the geographic content is comprised ofmapping-image tiles; selecting a pre-determined zoom level for thegeographic content displayed on the electronic map; anticipating onePoint-of-Interest (“POI”) in the geographic content that would bevisible when the geographic content is displayed at the pre-determinedzoom level; determining a subset of the advertisement content associatedwith the one POI; receiving a first set of mapping-image tilesrepresenting the geographic content; displaying the first set ofmapping-image tiles representing the geographic content at a first zoomlevel; receiving a first zoom-in command, wherein the first zoom-incommand is directed at the selected area of the electronic map;determining the pre-determined zoom level has not been reached;receiving a second set of mapping-image tiles representing thegeographic content representing the geographic content at a higher levelof detail; displaying the second set of mapping-image tiles; receiving asecond zoom-in command; determining the pre-determined zoom level hasbeen reached; receiving the selected subset of the advertisementcontent, and displaying the subset of the advertisement content on thedisplay, wherein the subset of the advertising content replaces thesecond set of mapping-image tiles.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thezoom-in command is received from an input device.
 3. The method of claim2, wherein the input device is a touch screen programmed to transmit tothe map display application a zoom-in command.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein a portion of the mapping-image tiles remain visible on theperiphery of the advertisement content on the electronic map.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the geographic content and the advertisementcontent are displayed within a web-browsing application.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein in response to receiving an additional zoom-outcommand or a pan command, the advertisement content is removed from thedisplay.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein in the transmittinginformation representing the selected area step, GPS coordinatesdelimiting the selected area are transmitted.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the steps of receiving the advertisement content for theselected area from the second server and displaying the advertisementcontent for the selected area on the display, further include: receivinga first set of advertisement content, wherein the first set of theadvertisement content includes information allowing selection of asecond set of advertisement content; displaying the first set ofadvertisement content to the user; receiving user input selecting atleast some of the first set of advertisement content; and retrieving anddisplaying at least some of the second set of advertisement contentpertaining to the at least some of the first set of advertisementcontent selected by the user input.
 9. The method of claim 8, whereinthe first set of advertisement content includes a way to hyperlink tothe second set of advertisement content.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein in the determining if the pre-determined zoom level step hasbeen reached step, the selected zoom level corresponds to a maximumattainable zoom level of the selected area of the electronic map. 11.The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement content is filteredagainst a profile of a user using the electronic device.
 12. The methodof claim 11, wherein the advertisement content is from a social network,and wherein the advertisement content is filtered against asocial-network profile of the user.
 13. The method of claim 1, whereinthe advertising content is derived off a pay-per-click advertisingservice.
 14. A method of substituting advertisement content forgeographic content while displaying the geographic content on anelectronic map, comprising: providing two types of content: geographiccontent and advertisement content, wherein the geographic content iscomprised of mapping-image tiles and is one of: a satellite image or astreet map comprised of graphical tiles, and wherein the advertisementcontent resides in an advertisement data source different from a datasource providing the geographic content; selecting a threshold zoomlevel for the geographic content displayed on the electronic map;displaying the geographic content; receiving a first zoom-in command,wherein the first zoom-in command; determining the threshold zoom levelhas not been reached; displaying the geographic content at a greaterlevel of detail; receiving a second zoom-in command; determining thethreshold zoom level has been reached; selecting a visible portion ofthe electronic map that is displayed as result of the zoom-in command;transmitting information representing the selected visible portion ofthe electronic map to a service associated with the advertisement datasource; transmitting additional information to the service associatedwith the advertisement data source including at least one of:geo-location of an electronic device displaying the electronic map,and/or user information of a user logged into the electronic device,and/or content displayed by the electronic device and/or a cookieassociated with a web-browsing application on the electronic deviceand/or at least one point-of-interest (“POI”) on the electronic map;receiving the advertisement content from the service associated with theadvertisement data source; and substituting the advertisement contentfor at least a portion of the geographic content wherein theadvertisement content is displayed as replacement to at least some ofthe image-mapping tiles within the original confines of the geographiccontent.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the selection of thevisible portion of the electronic map is performed automatically by themap-display application.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein the atleast one POI is displayed on the electronic map overlaying thegeographic content prior to displaying the advertisement content. 17.The method of claim 16, wherein information pertaining to the at leastone POI is transmitted to the service associated with the advertisementdata source prior to receiving the advertisement content.
 18. The methodof claim 14, wherein the zoom-in command is received via a voice commandreceived by the electronic device.
 19. The method of claim 14, whereinthe service associated with the advertisement data source providespay-per-click contextual advertisements.
 20. The method of claim 19,wherein the information representing the selected visible portion of theelectronic map contains GPS coordinates.
 21. The method of claim 14,wherein following the step of transmitting additional information to theservice associated with the advertisement data source, the additionalinformation is processed against one or more potential advertisementstargeted at various attributes associated with the additionalinformation.
 22. The method of claim 21, wherein one advertisement isselected from the one or more potential advertisements, and the oneadvertisement is transmitted back as the advertisement content.
 23. Themethod of claim 22, wherein one or more business rules are applied toselecting the one advertisement from the one or more potentialadvertisements, wherein the business rules involve consideration of theadditional information.
 24. The method of claim 23, wherein theadvertisement content is hyperlinked to other online information. 25.The method of claim 14, wherein the service associated with theadvertisement data source includes pay-per-click advertising.
 26. Amethod of choosing and displaying advertisement content related to atleast one point-of-interest (“POI”) displayed on an electronic map,wherein the electronic map is zoomed past a maximumpre-determined-zoom-level, comprising: providing an electronic devicehaving a map display application that is coupled to the internet and adisplay for displaying geographic content on a selected area of theelectronic map, wherein the geographic content is comprised of aplurality of mapping-image tiles; setting a value for the maximumpre-determined-zoom-level; displaying the electronic map at a first zoomlevel, wherein the first zoom level is one level below the maximumpre-determined-zoom-level; receiving a zoom-in command; determining thepre-determined-zoom-level has been reached as result of the zoom-incommand; selecting a visible portion of the electronic map that isdisplayed as result of the zoom-in command, wherein the visible portionincludes at least one POI; and transmitting to a service associated withan advertisement data source (“advertisement server”) one or more of thefollowing: information defining the at least one POI and/or informationon a user of the electronic device and/or information on a geographicarea displayed in the visible portion; selecting on the advertisementserver an advertisement content to be transmitted to the electronicdevice, wherein the advertisement content is selected via anoptimization algorithm from among a pool of potential advertisementcontent; transmitting the selected advertisement content to theelectronic device; deleting the plurality of the map-image tiles, anddisplaying the advertisement content on the display.
 27. The method ofclaim 26, wherein the optimization algorithm factors in one or more ofthe following: the information defining the at least one POI and/or theinformation on the user of the electronic device and/or the informationon the geographic area displayed in the visible portion.
 28. The methodof claim 27, wherein the optimization algorithm further factors in oneor more business rules for targeted advertising.
 29. The method of claim26, wherein the advertisement content is hyperlinked to a secondarysource of content.
 30. The method of claim 29, wherein the secondarysource of content is displayed in response to a click on the hyperlink.31. The method of claim 26, wherein the electronic device is a smartphone.